Chapter 600 Uneasiness
Meanwhile, in the Transcendent World belonging to the Overworld Serpent, the throne room was once again rife with tension.
With the continuous report incoming from the Fortress Worlds that sent the Serpent Knights and other Rank 4 Transcendents commanding some of the specialized large Space Vessels called Vipers, none had yet to deliver good news. What's worse was the confirmed death of the Serpent Knight Teriopa Ageshan.
He's the first one who arrived at the wreckage of the Mine World and chased after the suspected culprits. The Viper that he commanded went down a layer in his order to chase after the culprit's Space Vessel had already returned with nothing to show for.
And because he didn't return after days had passed, his subordinates searched for him and found his body was blotted with Chaotic Energy corruption.
They concluded that his cause of death was Energy Drought which comes after a long-term Energy Exhaustion. As to how he seemingly got subjective by the corrupt properties of Chaotic Energy, it was still a mystery. Although there were a lot of suspicious points about his death considering he left to catch a mere Rank 3 Transcendent that acted as bait and diversion, those who received the report could only speculate it unless they go to the scene and examine it.
Unfortunately, with the nature of the Chaotic Space, traces of Source Energy and any battle would be difficult to find after some time passed.
Still, among the organization troops that were sent out, he's the only one who provided intel.
'The culprits seemed to be from a Sage World and a Sage Rank expert could be involved due to the speed at which they managed to extract the Source Energy Core.'
As the discussions from the experts standing at the side of the throne room gradually grew, the Sage seated atop the throne hit its armrest.
BANG!
Everyone stood in attention and the endless chatter instantly got silenced.
"The rats seemed to have grown wings." The figure started.
Even at this moment, they were obscured within a hazy mist which made it impossible for everyone to perfectly capture their true appearance. Their voice was also seemingly distorted so that it would be impossible to determine whether they were young or old, male or female. However, for the experts of this Serpentine World, the Sage's Aura alone was more than enough to cow them into submission.
"Rezallo. Tell me about the report from the other day."
"Yes, my Lord!"
The old butler answered as he stepped up to bow before repeating what he already reported a few days ago.
It was regarding the other Invasive Transcendent Worlds affiliated with the organization pursuing an unawakened Sage World.
The Sage paid it no heed before since as a Sage privy to more knowledge than average Transcendents, they knew that a Sage World rarely comes down to Density-1 World Zones, much less, become unawakened.
However, the report they received from them was that the Space Vessels they sent out to search for it and find its correct coordinates never returned.
The last report they received was that they seemingly ran out of the area of Density-1 World Zones, arriving outside it to where many considered it a Desolate Zone. That place was designated as Density-0 in every navigator the organization is using. To their knowledge, the Desolate Zone offers nothing but small Chaosworlds that have yet to mature.
"They believed that their Transcendents were all dead or captured by some organization or the unawakened Sage World denizens themselves. They're preparing to organize a stronger fleet to rescue them if there are survivors and invade the unawakened Sage World by scouring the nearby World Zones for Mortal Worlds connected to it as well as exploring the said Desolate Zone where the last Space Vessel was last heard."
The old butler finished his report and only now did he finally understand why the Sage made him repeat it.
Everyone started relating that unawakened Sage World to the Sage that might've been the culprit for the Mine World's destruction.
"Those fools don't have any Sage in their midst. What can their fleet do against a world that might have one?" The Sage scoffed. "If it is indeed a Sage who destroyed that Mine World. T'is my duty to head to the frontlines to confirm. Prepare our fleet too and send a message."
"Yes!"
"Tell them that this Sage will be gracing them of their presence. Let it be known that the Overworld Serpent of Lord Quetzal can topple even a renowned Sage World much less an unawakened one! There's always a price in crossing us."
With that kind of thunderous declaration, everyone in the throne room gulped down her saliva, wetting their throats that dried from trepidation.
In their heads, the same thought emerged, 'The Sage themselves will take action! How long has it been? This is unprecedented!'
Contrary to what Daisuke and the experts on Earth thought, the Invading Worlds that seemed to set their eyes on Earth had actually failed to gather the intel about its coordinates. They're still blind about it. Nonetheless, with this decision to arrange a fleet to seek them, it's only a matter of time before the enemy knocks on their doors
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After leaving the white-haired woman to the sly old man's care, I decided to take care of the small matters first.
We have a few days to spare so... the first thing I did was to visit the EDA and check the progress of the Heroes and emerging Transcendents from Earth and the ones from the Mortal Worlds who came with us.
General Yamada who received us before and handed me the report about the Earth's early adapter guided us once again. He's now a Transcendent so I congratulated him. I even gifted him a weapon of his choice.
According to him, the Transcendents we captured before had already lost their will to live. Seeing their peers getting sacrificed every other day, they knew that their fate would be the same.
Since they also didn't have any new intel for us, the higher-ups of EDA who consulted the old fossils also decided to just continue using them to nurture more Transcendents.
At the moment, apart from the Heroes that were sent to Otherworlds, EDA had already produced more than thirty Transcendents using the Baptismal Chamber I brought back from the World of Magic. The one that was made by Onimbus of the Dark World. It uses Lifeforce of the sacrifices to induce artificial growth for a week. Through that, those still lacking a few points to reach the 100 UPL threshold managed to call on the Door of Transcendence early on. However, because it's not their genuine progress, the success rate of Transcending through it was lower. Hence, only thirty succeeded even after two weeks and many Transcendent Sacrifices.
We brought new captives but those Rank 3 Transcendents would possibly become like the long-nosed Transcendent. They will all take the Oath to never betray us and choose between losing their memories and retaining their Pathway progress or retaining their memories and losing their Pathway progress.
Those Rank 2 Transcendents and some unlucky World of Inferno native Rank 1 Transcendents would become additional Fuel for the Baptismal Chamber.
Well, I couldn't care less about their fates anymore. Who knows? They might get a better offer.
With Earth Energy already growing stronger, we might not need to use that chamber anymore. Many Earthlings would be able to reach the threshold naturally.
After finishing his report, General Yamada once again respectfully bowed to me.
"I apologize but may I ask about something?"
"What is it?"
"If I'm not wrong, your return is premature. Is something big going to happen?"
"Not really. We'll be leaving again after finishing what we returned here for. But while we're here... I'd like to see if we can further improve the rate of nurturing our denizens."
"Oh! I understand what you're talking about! With Earth Energy readily available and an apt training ground created for them, only a few have reached the 4th Realm of Earth's Mortal Pathway." General Yamada exclaimed.
Although it's only a month, having an inherent Level 3 Source Energy to absorb, we expected some of the early adapters or those who excelled in the Pathways Online to reach Rank 5 quickly. Unlike the soldiers of EDA who trained in a faraway world, they have the privilege of training in a much abundant and favorable environment.
I know that we're already on the path of recovery but with our enemies looming close as well as my near-death experience, I can't help but feel uneasy.
"Dai-kun, it's fine. We're getting stronger quicker than before. We just have to continue like this and not rush."
Maybe sensing my uneasiness, Yuko immediately went to my side, comforting me with her assuring words.
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